Professor Maria Szylska-Kaszycka - Memory
On Thursday 16 April 2009, Mrs. Prof. Maria-Szylska Kaszycka passed away.
A great pianist, teacher at the Academy of Music in Carcow, Poland and Cracow Schools of Music.
Her name has always been and will remain for me in connection with the music of Frederic Chopin. She studied piano with Prof. Zbigniew Drzewiecki, and then Prof. Jan Hoffman, and she as no one else, was able to penetrate the essence of Chopin’s compositions. It was an extremely sensitive person, with an incredibly rich imagination, heart and great sense of humor, and at the same time also the great modesty. While in the first place has always put students’ personality and his imagination, in the piano playing were extremely important: a sense of style, color and beauty of sound(!!!) and the ability to operate musical plans.
As a teacher she has developed a unique style of training pianists. She solved all technical problems on Studies (not only) of Chopin, and believed, as many great professors, that this is an compendium, but treat even the smallest, each exercise, not as some kind of exercise, but always as part of the artistic whole, as a practice has always been dictated by the prospect of the final shape of an artistic work.
She frequently mentioned his Master Prof. Zbigniew Drzewiecki and in very colorful manner told of his great heart and sensitivity to the needs of other people. For me, Professor Maria-Szyska Kaszycka forever remain just that Beloved Ms. Professor of Great Heart!
Marta Polanska